OPERA IN THE HEAT

One of the nice things about this town is that we have a permanent big top tent. Its main purpose is the home of our resident circus company but other events take place there. Our summer opera company is putting on a burst of performance there this weekend. Difficult circumstances but better than sitting idle for another year. 

We went to a matinee performance of The Tales of Hoffman yesterday. The tent is open-sided but not air conditioned and has no interior fans. It was 90 F / 32 C. The two male leads were, um, portly and portlier, wearing three piece suits. (The reed-thin soprano, who was fabulous, calls herself Brooklyn Snow, which I don't believe for a minute.) The whole company did a heroic job. (I started swooning in the third act.) However, we have tickets this afternoon for a performance of The Barber of Seville and the forecast is for 97 F / 36 C. We wonder if it will be canceled. If it's not, we wonder whether we will make it past intermission. We wonder if Almaviva will suffer heat stroke on stage.

Back to sunflowers tomorrow.                  

Madeleine Monday: La Diva

We still wonder what it is we have on our hands. Not only does she want to see a video of the Queen of the Night's aria from The Magic Flute over and over, but now she wants to perform along with it. Her attempts to hit those staccato high notes are funny. And at the end, sure, she deserves to give herself a hand.

I had her out in my car for a while yesterday. From back in her car seat she calls out "opa!", meaning she wants the opera channel on satellite radio. The Metropolitan Opera was just beginning to play Götterdämmerung. She was cool with it. I'm sure she will pick up pop music when she gets to school ('cause she ain't gonna get it here).                

E 'strano

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There are three times in Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece, La Traviata, when Violetta, the title character, sings out e 'strano! - it is strange. Strange that she experiences feelings of genuine love in a life that has been dedicated to pleasure and independence; strange that the object of her love has left their home on a mysterious errand; and, strangest of all, that she is about to die of consumption. It was also quite strange - but very pleasant - to hear this in the halls of upper crust St. Louis society.

This city is a terrific place to experience affordable, intimate opera. There is our renowned company, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, that plays a four production season in repertory during May and June. Through the rest of the summer, Union Avenue Opera performs in a beautiful church whose congregation makes the auditorium/sanctuary available for music and art. There wasn't anything in the cold months until a few years ago, when little Winter Opera was formed.

They play where someone with adaptable space will take them in. Last weekend's performances of La Traviata took place in the ballroom of the St. Louis Woman's Club. (Woman's, not Women's. There are men's clubs but are there man's clubs?) I'd never heard of it. Well, it's located in a sumptuous mansion on Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End. No signage out front. Within, the grandiloquence of old money, style and power. It was a brilliant setting for this work. I took some iPhone snaps: above, an accordionist plays Di Provenza during intermission. Below, curtain calls, and a young usher checking his messages in a stairwell under a painting of a peasant woman, a demographic underrepresented in the club membership rolls.

Rumor has it that Christo has attacked St. Louis. Details on Downtown St. Louis 365.

Visiting Chicago

My wife and I are spending Mother's Day weekend visiting our son, U "R" Us, in Chicago. We are enjoying the alpha and omega of the city's culture. Yesterday morning we saw the Edward Hopper show at the Chicago Art Institute. In the afternoon, we went to a Cubs game at ancient Wrigley Field, a first for us. This afternoon we are going to a performance of Don Giovanni at Chicago Opera Theater. So much to do here.

TOMORROW: Show me the money.